Machine Building

How drives and automation meet the needs of modern warehouses

A modern warehouse operation must be fast, flexible and efficient. Choosing appropriate automation platforms - and automation partners - capable of meeting the challenges that this poses is clearly vital to its success, as Lenze's Marketing Communications Manager Neil Beaumont explains.

21st January 2019

Digital services from OEMs

Business models in machine manufacturing will change under the influence of Industrie 4.0. In future, digital services will become increasingly important alongside the sale and maintenance of machines and systems. Lenze is paving the way for this development with its Asset Management application. More software, more connectivity, more IT - these are the requirements linked to Industrie 4.0. Achieving these things means acquiring more components. But do they justify the outlay? Can the customer gain any economic benefit from them? Machine manufacturers often doubt it, because if we apply the traditional standards it does not add up.

18th January 2019

Logistics 4.0 is already reality

The cloud offers an infinite amount of storage space and computing power - but it first needs the right concepts and applications before it can become a genuine added value. As Lenze demonstrated at the Hannover Messe 2018 with a storage and retrieval unit, Logistics 4.0 is no longer a future dream, it is already reality. Data from the control, the drives and the sensors can already be transferred securely to the cloud with little effort.

15th January 2019

How to optimise handling systems for warehouses

For owners and builders of the machinery that keeps goods flowing in warehouses, the need for speed, flexibility, efficiency and reliability is now greater than ever. Paul Berry, Business Development Manager at Lenze, explains how to be smart when choosing components, technology platforms and providers to meet the challenge.

10th January 2019

Less is more: keeping complexity out of automation

Streamlined design of automation systems - adding functionality such as connectivity without increasing complexity - will help food processors move their operations towards a true "˜factory of the future'.

10th January 2019

What is the impact of robotics in food production?

According to research by the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, almost a third of food processing operations already use robotics in their facilities. What's more, half of those surveyed said they will increase their level of automation in the next three to five years. However, not every food manufacturer is an automation convert. Nigel Smith, managing director of six-axis robot distributor, TM Robotics investigates why.

8th January 2019

What is a moving coil actuator?

In this, the first of several technical notes on moving coil actuators, Ed Neff, President of SMAC Moving Coil Actuators (MCA), provides a brief history of linear actuators and explains where moving coil actuators fit in.

8th January 2019

How ready-to-install brakes help to ensure safety

Safety brakes have to protect people and systems and in emergencies also save lives. Therefore, mayr power transmission diligently excludes all risks right from the design stage. The safety brakes from Mauerstetten are supplied ready to install. For users, this means the greatest possible safety and simple installation without additional effort.

7th January 2019

UKCA Marking of Machinery and the implications - updated

Derek Coulson, a Technical Advisor with Safe Machine Ltd, outlines his views of the proposed UKCA Marking of Machinery, which could replace CE Marking to the Machinery Directive when the UK leaves the EU following the current transition period ending on 31 December 2020.

7th January 2019

IO-Link as the key to implementing Industry 4.0

IO-Link was originally developed in order to provide easy standardized wiring of intelligent, complex sensors and actuators using a simple three-core sensor cable. As the issues surrounding Industry 4.0 grew more specific, it quickly became clear that IO-Link is the key in implementing powerful Industry 4.0 concepts, since a wide variety of field information is required from production plants.

20th December 2018